was founded in 1939 in Vigo as a spin-off of Miguel Servet laboratories. During these initial years it focused mainly in the production of Drugs for the treatment of cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases and gynaecologic disorders as controlled-release insuline, sulfonamides, Alkaloids and ephedrine. In 1949, together with other Spanish laboratories, it created the company Antibioticos SA, dedicated to packaging penicillin and streptomycin imported in bulk. In 1963, Zeltia began to be listed in the stock exchange of Madrid and in 1964 it diversified its business creating three subsidiaries dedicated to the agricultural industry, the pharmaceutical industry and the chemical-veterinary industry respectively. After an agreement with the German Desowag Bayer Holszschutz, in 1975 the Xylacel brand was created, which markets products for the treatment of wood and metal. In 1984 Antibioticos SA and ICI Farma were released from the Zeltia group and in 1986 José María Fernández Sousa-Faro founded the PharmaMar subsidiary with the objective of developing Antitumor drugs from marine-based resources such as algae. In 1991 the Zeltia group decided to enter the market of genetic and molecular diagnosis with the creation of the subsidiary PharmaGen, which in 2001 was renamed Genomica. In the same year, PharmaMar achieved its first success by completing the chemical synthesis route to obtain the first drug against cancer developed entirely in Spain, the trabectedin. This chemical compound began to be marketed under the commercial nameYondelis after approval by the European Medicines Agency and the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of soft-tissue sarcoma and uterine cancer in advanced stages. Continuing with the expansion of the Zeltia group in the field of biotechnology, the subsidiary Sylentis was founded in 2006, aimed at the development of therapies based on gene silencing. Between 2012 and 2015 Zeltia expanded throughout Europe, reaching Italy, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
PharmaMar (2015–)
In 2015, with the aim of focusing in the group's main business, PharmaMar absorbed the entire Zeltia group by means of a reverse merger. In this line of strengthening the core pharmaceutical business, in 2018 the Xylacel brand is sold to the Dutch multinationalAkzoNobel and in 2019 the subsidiary Zelnova. At the beginning of the year 2020 before the onset of the COVID-19 disease, the PharmaMar group developed a specific diagnostic kit for this coronavirus, based on the diagnostic tests previously marketed by the subsidiary Genomics. This test allows a quick diagnosis, even before the patient shows symptoms
